The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1887-11-24
Behind the Register.

'Would you think of giving an enter
tainment without having someone to
receive your guests properly?"
''Well, hardly
"Would you think of running 3
hotel without having clerks who knew
all the boys and who were considerate
with the ladies who came to stop at
your house?"
mot much"
AFTER all" said one of the propri-
etors of an established Memphis hos
telry, who is always willing to see
everyone get his dues, ''the clerks, to
greater extent than would imagine,
make the hotels what they are. IL
takes combination of many qualities
to make an ideal hotel clerk. There
are so many things required of him
and so many other things that are not
required that it becomes no easy mat
ter to select a man to answer the pur-
pose perfectly and with absolute salts
faction. A man who fills a position
acceptably even, is worth a great deal
to the house by which he is employed"
A hotel clerk is called upon hundreds,
yea thousand of times a day to do
this, that, or the other favor for Tom,
Dick, or Harry. From early morning
until the shades of night set in he is
the target at which such lances are
couched as, ''Give me my key" What
time does the 10:40 train leave?"
(Which car goes first the one leaving
at or that leaving at 81" where
can l get shaved?" please send a
pitcher of ice-water to my room" ..Is
Col. Mulberry Sellers here?" SIS
Capt Kid in?' ''What is that old fell
lows name over there?" '.Is dinner
ready?" "Can 1 be called at o'clock?"
(which car do you take for Pinch?"
do l get breakfast at Sardis or
Grenada?" I'D like to leave this
package with you" (Which is the
best hotel to stop at in Nashville?"
whats the news. old boy?" Hot
thousand-mile ticket cost at 3 cents
per mile?" '.Do 1 get my my bag
gage checked here or at the tramp
did you say at the ;seain?" Where
did you spend the summer" What
'.Deuced beastly uncomfortable tell
you" ''ls the Concord school of
philosophy in session." ''Say, l be-
lieve there are no matches in my room,"
Haven't you got anything to read,
hey?" etc. 1t requires remarkable
presence of mind for answering these
suggestions. The writer has seen y
hotel CLERK, one of the tallest and
handsomest in town, handling tha
register with one hand, Keeping ac-
counts with the other and talking to
as many as a dozen inguisitive guests
at once, while he still preserved in q
far greater degree than one would
have right to suppose, calmness of
demeanor, a consciousness of duty,
and dignity of attitude that was
simply heroic.
The hotel clerk is used to sizing up
the boys, and when one comes in in q
perturbed state of mind he is dealt
with SO ''gently and SO lovingly" that
it takes no time to forget what it was
that irritated him.
There is charming grace in the cool
diligence met with which the man be-
hind the register moves when there is
crowd at his desk. There is a subtitle
| sweetness in the sound of his voice as
he calls out 1 1,092 to the bell-boy, and
he is never inflicted with innocuous
desuetude. The hotel clerk has been
described as being but little better
than plumber, because he wears dia-
monds and has probably l,O00, 900 to
his credit in the bank. This is an in
justice to the hotel clerk, and it es-
pecially reflects upon those of Mem
| phis, because none of them here are
worth over $500 600